This is the production Mazda Demio, which will be sold as the 2016 Mazda 2 in North America. It's a dead ringer for the Hazumi concept we saw back in March—actually, it might look even better. Incredibly, the smaller the canvas that Mazda stretches it over, the better the Kodo design language looks. Those multi-element headlights seem yanked right out of some Alfa Romeo designer's sketchbook. And the wheels, while smaller, are even more tasteful than the Hazumi's bulbous rims.

One place where the new 2 diverges completely from the Hazumi concept is the interior ... thankfully. Inside, the Hazumi looked like one of the Voltron lions' cockpits; as much as I love Voltron, that's not a high compliment. The production Demio incorporates an elegant, scaled-down version of the 3's interior. It's clean and premium-looking. Hold your hand over the badge on the wheel, and you might mistake it for a Volvo style-first interior. Nope, this is a volume hatchback that will probably be motivated by a fuel-sipping four, not a twin-charged fancy Swedish mill.

Probably—that's because Mazda is mum on actual powertrain details for other markets. In Japan, the Demio will get two flavors of Skyactiv engines: a 1.3-liter gas or 1.5-liter diesel. The 1.3-liter unit is set to replace the smaller MZR engines, which were mostly sold abroad except for the 1.5-liter unit in the outgoing Mazda 2. But, to be clear, they've said nothing about whether they'll try to federalize either of the Demio's Japanese engines.

I wouldn't say federalization of the Skyactiv 1.3 is impossible—they can't well put the federalized 2-liter in it, can they? And I'll go a step further and say that with a turbocharger, it might be the next Miata engine. It makes sense to federalize a single block in two forms from an economy-of-scale perspective. We know the Miata is aiming to be lightened and downsized, and as we heard from the teaser video it sure as hell sounds boosted. On the other hand, Mazda could easily punch out the 1.3 a few hundred CCs and create a different small-engine family for US consumption. Whatever the final displacement, it's the strongest candidate I've seen so far for the 2016 Miata's powerplant.

And you know, if they can turbocharge it for a longitudinal application in a Miata, who's to say they couldn't make a transverse application for a Mazdaspeed 2? Alas, all speculation. When powertrain details emerge for the US market, we'll pass it along.